Mike Vaccaro

In honor of Dwight Gooden, who had his number retired earlier this season, here’s a look at 16 especially memorable moments from those eight prior trips.

They didn’t want leave. They didn’t want to let go of the night, of this game, of each other.

This was a reminder: no one team corners the market on magic in October. Not even a team with “Amazin’ ” and “Miracle” as an unofficial first name.

Zack Wheeler came out of the game for the top of the eighth, and you could almost hear the Mets singing in the dugout.

Now comes the main event. Now come the Phillies. Mets/Phillies is one of the great rivalries in sports that has never had a genuine flashpoint.

Now, the Mets need to win one game in Atlanta on Monday. A split gets them an 89th win on the season and a seat at the table in the NL playoffs.

When sports gets you, it hooks you.

Now Shohei Ohtani has invented the 50-50 Club, and he did that with nine games to spare in his season.

Life went on. The Yanks-Sox rivalry survived. Thankfully, so did my career. Yeah. I miss those days.

There was a brief moment, midway through the first half, where if you happen to favor the Jets you were allowed those rarest of all Jets emotions these past 14 years: hope. Optimism. Positivity.